- Date
- May 10, 1990, 18:00 local (May 11, 1990, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Firebaugh, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N5217NHughes 369E
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 23, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900510015639A
- Case key
- 26800
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Failure by company maintenance to perform a mandatory compressor section inspection that resulted in the undetected erosion of the compressor vanes and engine failure. Contributing to the accident was the failure of the pilot to maintain adequate main rotor RPM at critical altitude.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The helicopter lost eng power and landed hard. The plt reported he had just completed releasing an external load. The helicopter was about 125 feet AGL in a climbing left turn when the plt heard a loud bang. The plt entered autorotation. The plt noted that the main rotor RPM was low and was unable to regain any main rotor RPM before the landing flair. At touchdown, the main rotor blades flexed downward and severed the tailboom. The third stage compressor had failed, damaging the remaining stages of the compressor. The compressor case plastic was eroded. The eng had undergone major maintenance at 1,774.5 hours which required the removal of the turbine section. There was no evidence in the eng logbooks of the compressor section being inspected at 1,750 hours as required by the manufacturer. The engine maintenance manual warns erosion will cause damage to compressor blades and vanes.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5217N
- Reported as
- Hughes 369E
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 0134E
- Airframe hours
- 1,854
- Engine
- Allison 250 C20B, 420 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Other work use · Part 133
- Registered owner
- Rogers Helicopters
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · January 5, 1990 · 95 hours before
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 55
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 7,372 total · 1,045 in this make and model · 7,007 as pilot in command · 63 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 290° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- FAT, 37 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.